15. Lucia

Colton’s father’s house was huge. Admittedly, it was not nearly as big as Colton’s massive, seven-bedroom, $7.5 million home—yes, Lucia had found his mansion online—but it was still looming and beautiful.

Lucia was quite nervous. Sure, the stakes were lower since she wasn’t actually dating Colton, but she still had to pretend to be dating Colton, and she honestly didn’t know what that entailed. It was hard enough not to drool over him in that long-sleeve button-down that put his muscles on full display. She was also struggling to work through the whole they almost had sex in her office thing, but that was the last thought she needed to be focused on as she walked up the stairs of the white house, clutching tightly to the gift bag that held a bottle of whiskey.

The door opened before they even knocked, revealing a tall woman of about twenty-two or twenty-three with tan skin and dark-brown hair. She was stunning, and she smiled wide as she launched herself at Colton, who realized just in time that his sister was hurtling toward him.

“Hey, Mai. Missed you.” The woman, Maya, gave Colton one more squeeze before turning to Lucia, smiling wider, if that was even possible.

Lucia held out her free hand. “Hi, I’m—”

“Lucia!” Maya’s arms were around her, and Lucia hugged her back tentatively, smiling at Colton from over his sister’s shoulder. Even in her kitten heels, Lucia was a couple of inches shorter than her.

“You have no idea how thankful I am that you’re here. Family functions are so boring with me as the only girl.” Maya slung an arm around Lucia’s shoulders and led her inside the house, leaving Colton to walk in behind them.

“It’s really nice to meet you. Colton speaks very highly of you.”

“As he should! I’m his favorite sister, after all.”

The foyer was open and spacious. Maya pointed out where Lucia could leave her shoes.

“My brothers and father hate it, but especially when we’re honoring our mom, I insist we take off our shoes. It’s how we grew up, and it’s what Mom would’ve wanted.”

Lucia smiled kindly as she stepped out of her heels. A man a couple of years younger than Colton but a few inches taller walked into the foyer, making eye contact with Maya as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Mai, Liliana needs your help in the kitchen.”

Maya scoffed, “Oh, what? You’re too tall to help her out yourself? Sexist pig.” She turned to Lucia. “I won’t subject you to their sexism by asking you to come with me to help Dad’s chef. You hang out with Colton and Landon, and I’ll be back.”

Landon smirked at his sister before stepping forward and focusing that smirk squarely on Lucia. “Well, hello there. You’re even prettier in person.” He extended a tattooed hand. “Landon Beaumont, Colton’s younger and sexier brother.”

The cocky smirk grew wider as Colton came up behind her and placed a hand on her back. She put her much smaller hand in Landon’s outstretched palm.

“Ah, yes, the famous tight end. I’m Lucia, Colton’s very serious girlfriend.”

As if to reward her, Colton’s pointer finger dragged little patterns on her back through the fabric of her floral dress. She squashed the urge to lean into him, pulling her hand back from the handshake.

Something strange passed between the brothers, and Lucia wasn’t sure how to read it. She didn’t have siblings and had never known the competitive feeling that accompanied playing the same sport and trying to one-up one another. She didn’t know much about their relationship, but even she could see that it was a little strained. Still, they leaned in for a hug and clapped one another on the back.

“Your stats are looking much better.”

“Thanks, you’ve had a great season too.”

From an outsider’s perspective, the interaction might’ve seemed odd. But just as she’d imagined, Landon’s body language told her he wasn’t Colton’s biggest fan. It was clear there was a lot of family trauma the boys needed to work through together, and she hoped one day that they would.

She walked beside the brothers into the living room and connected kitchen, Colton’s hand still resting on her, though now around her waist. Maya and an older blonde woman, who Lucia assumed was the chef Maya had spoken of before, were facing away from them, chopping something. The smell of food cooking made Lucia’s stomach grumble, and she saw the quirk of Colton’s lips at the sound.

The sound of footsteps had all of them turning. Lucia felt like the entire room was holding its breath. The spell was broken as the shortest Beaumont man with green eyes and graying hair walked in. His eyes landed immediately on Colton before they slid to Lucia, narrowing almost accusatorially on her.

“Hi, Mr. Beaumont. I’m Lucia. This is for you.” She held out the pretty gift bag, almost embarrassed as he took it from her like it was a bomb. He peered inside, and seemingly satisfied that she wasn’t trying to blow up his family, he set it on the counter.

When she’d asked Colton what his father might like, the only thing he’d been able to think of was whiskey. She had spent longer than she should’ve researching the best one to buy him, hoping to make a good first impression, but she could tell he’d made his mind up about her before she’d stepped through the door of his house.

“Nice to meet you,” he said in a way that made it seem like it was not, in fact, nice to meet her. He turned to Colton. “Let’s go talk about the game before dinner.”

She saw Colton’s shoulders sag as he grimaced. He shot her an apologetic look but followed his father out of the room. Lucia couldn’t figure out why he’d deflated, since the Sabers had won the game by three scores and Colton had played quite well.

“Landon, make yourself useful and go set the table, please. We’ll start setting out food in a minute.” Maya wasn’t even facing them as she said it, though she turned around and winked at Lucia as Landon grumbled.

“Lucia, join me.”

Lucia followed Landon into an adjacent room. The dining room was massive, with a huge, wooden table and matching chairs. Intricate placemats of red, gold, and blue sat at each setting, though they looked old and worn. A blue table runner lay down the middle of the long table, tying into the decor well. Besides the table, there was little else decorating the room. There were no family photos, pictures of pets, or even paintings. It felt very cold, just like the rest of the house.

“So, you’re the minx who dated Colton’s sworn enemy, right? I can’t tell you how much I’ve heard about Max Clark over the past nine years. I was surprised when I heard you and Colton got together.” She tried to detect any note of suspicion in his tone as she grabbed the plates from the head of the table, setting them out as he laid out silverware and thinking through how best to respond.

“I was working as a Vipers analyst, and it didn’t work out for me there, so I transferred to the Sabertooths to help Colton after the first two preseason games. We didn’t see eye to eye in the beginning, as you can imagine.”

That got a chuckle out of him as he continued around the table.

“We started spending more time together, and we realized that we had a lot of common interests. After that, everything kind of just fell into place, I guess.”

It felt odd lying to Landon, but the last thing she wanted was for him not to believe that they were together. Colton already had to deal with his helicopter parent of a father, he didn’t need his brother teasing him for lying about a girlfriend too. If it meant protecting him from that, she had no qualms about fibbing.

Landon chuckled again. “Well, I’m certainly surprised. Colton’s probably the best of us at holding a grudge. Granted, he’s had to deal with the most shit from our dad, but still, he can be a real dick sometimes. I don’t know how he managed to get his shit together enough to convince you to go out with him.”

Lucia grinned. “He’s very stubborn.”

“That, I knew. But glad to hear he put that particular personality trait to use at something that matters. One thing we have in common is that we are both no good at relationships. I haven’t seen him date someone seriously in years.”

“Do you think he just didn’t have the time before?” She was being nosy, but she really wanted to know why he’d spent so many of his best years alone.

“I’d joke that he has no game with women, but I think we can probably agree that’s not true.”

She shook her head. The perpetual warmth that swept through her when he was near was a good indication that it wasn’t even a little true. Not to mention how she’d nearly come apart in her office.

“Right. Anyway, I think Colt was dealt a tough hand with our dad. He’s got it so deeply ingrained in him that his football stats have to be perfect all the time that he probably never even thought about it. You must’ve really taken him by surprise.”

She laughed as she leaned against one of the chairs. “I think what surprised him was that I didn’t take any of his shit.”

He gave her a genuine smile, not one of his cocky smirks, as he said, “Good. He needs it.”

She thought back to what he’d said about their dad. “Your dad’s pretty hard on all of you, huh?”

“Hard’s an understatement, but like I said, Colton gets the worst of it. He was the first-born son who could do no wrong.” There was that tinge of bitterness. “Unless, of course, he is on the field. No matter how hard Colton works, no matter how he perfects his game at the expense of his life, his relationships, his everything, it has never been enough for dear ol’ Dad.”

The thought made Lucia’s heart hurt for a young Colton. “Why has he pushed you and Colton so hard in football? I mean, I know he played in college and was a first-round favorite for the draft, but it feels like a lot of pressure to put on someone else.”

Her dad had a lot of faults, but even with the small family hardware store he ran, he’d never expected Lucia to follow in his footsteps. The moment he’d learned she was good at math and had an interest in computers, he’d made sure to hire someone to help with her college applications, even when they hadn’t had much money to spare.

Not only had she found Colton’s house online, but she’d also looked into his family. Troy Beaumont’s college career had been incredibly promising. He had been predicted to be the first pick in the NFL draft after his senior year of college, but the injury during the national championship had changed everything. She had been surprised to see that he’d quit the football world and moved on to something else. Still, it made no sense for that to be his only reason to push his sons so hard.

Landon leaned against the doorway. “Right after Dad got injured, he met our mom through some friends. She swam at Crestview, and I guess with them both playing NCAA sports, they understood each other. A few months later, she was pregnant with Colton, and my dad had to find a job quickly. I’m not sure either of them were thrilled about it, but they got married right out of college.”

Landon rubbed his jaw, an odd look on his face. “A few months after Colt was born, my dad was offered a coaching job at a college across the country. The offer was only on the table for a week or so, but with a newborn and a recently purchased house, there was no feasible way for them to uproot their life. Plus, Dad would’ve been gone all the time, and Mom didn’t want to have to rely on her parents too much, so they ultimately decided it wasn’t the right path.”

Realization dawned on Lucia as Landon continued. “So Dad put all of his free time into coaching Colton. He wanted to make sure Colt was the next best NFL great, no matter the consequences. Then I was born, and he’d been out of the football world for so long that he couldn’t find professional coaching jobs anywhere. Instead, he threw himself into coaching all our Little League and middle school games. Taught Colt and me everything he knows. Made sure Crestview scouts came out to watch him play in high school and then went to all of his college games.”

Lucia whispered, “And Colton’s believed his whole life that it was his fault? That his father missed out on a career in coaching because of him?”

Landon nodded slowly, lips pressed into a thin line. “Dad made sure he knew that story. Any misstep, and he would remind Colt what he’d given up for him. Mom tried her best to stop it, but there was nothing she could do, short of leaving him. And there was no way he wasn’t going to fight with everything in him to keep Colt, if only to live out his dreams.”

“And what about you?”

“I spent years trying to live up to my dad’s standards, but with Colton as good as he was, it didn’t make sense for me to be a quarterback. Plus, I’m taller, so tight end was the best choice for me.” He grinned. “Let’s just say I’m glad to be across the country. It’s nice being out of Colt’s shadow, but it’s even nicer being away from Dad.”

As horrible as Lucia felt for all of the Beaumont children, her heart ached for Colton. He’d had the weight of his father’s goals and dreams placed on his little shoulders from the moment he was born, his life already planned out for him. No wonder all he cared about was winning. It was all he’d known. He felt he could only get his father’s love if he won, and she was sure that translated to everyone else as well.

“Sorry, I thought you would’ve known this stuff. It’s textbook parental projection. Unfortunately, Colton’s too indebted to him. He’s so consumed with the idea that he must get Dad’s approval that he won’t even say no when Dad berates him for a win during Mom’s memorial dinner.”

Absent-mindedly, Lucia responded, “No, I had no idea. Colton likes to keep his private life private, even from me.”

Maya walked in with a casserole dish, a pained expression on her face. She’d clearly heard what they’d been talking about, her eyes flicking between the two of them.

“Casserole’s ready,” she said quietly.

“I’ll help with the rest of the dishes. You’ve done enough. Let me bring the stuff in, you’ll burn yourself.” Landon followed his sister out of the room as he spoke, leaving a shocked Lucia to stare at the pristine table, her body leaning against a chair to steady herself.

She knew Colton had invited her, had wanted her there for moral support, but she couldn’t help but feel as though she’d overstepped the bounds of their relationship by having that conversation with Landon. She’d learned things so intimate about Colton that it genuinely made her question all the interactions she’d had with him, all the mean comments she’d made about his game since they’d first seen each other in the Sabertooths’ boardroom.

She didn’t know how to act. On one hand, this didn’t change their relationship at all, but on the other, she felt for Colton. She really did. Someone who was supposed to have nurtured him, taught him how to ride a bike, taught him how to play a relaxed game of football, taught him all the ways of the world, had cursed him with high expectations and a life mapped out for him.

Moments later, Landon and Maya had set up all of the dishes on the table, no thanks to the still-shocked Lucia. Maya led Lucia to a chair.

“Here. Colton usually sits in this chair anyway.” She pointed to the one beside Lucia.

Sure enough, a few moments later, Colton walked in and sat beside her, his jaw tense. When he saw the expression on her face, his eyebrows knitted together.

“You okay?” he whispered as everyone sat down at the table around them, their father included.

She nodded. “You?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Lucia spent most of the dinner observing the dynamic between Colton and his father, though her silence also allowed her to notice how Troy Beaumont couldn’t even look at Maya. She continued trying to make conversation, even bringing up their mother, but their father kept focusing on football, as if dinner was just a continuation of his conversation with Colton.

When his attention turned to Landon’s playing, Lucia tuned out for a moment, eyes drifting over Colton’s hardened features as he ate. How much of what his father said had he internalized just then? How much of it had he internalized his entire life? How much of what he did was just his father’s words in his head, telling him that’s what he had to do for people to care about him? For people to love him?

When dinner was over, Lucia could tell Colton was ready to leave. Everyone but their father helped load the dishwasher, and Lucia and Colton hugged both of his siblings goodbye. Maya put Lucia’s number in her phone, promising to keep in touch.

Maya and Landon would be staying the night since they both had to take a flight to get in and out of Charleston, so Lucia and Colton were the only ones to leave. At the door, Colton’s father stood, still talking about football as Landon and Maya looked on solemnly.

“Don’t forget to get in the gym more this week. You’ve got a big game, and you need to be stronger. You took too many sacks the game before last.”

Colton sighed. “Yes, I will. Just like I have been.”

“Well, clearly it hasn’t been enough.”

That was it. The words were bad enough, but the tone of them sent Lucia hurtling over whatever precipice she’d been standing on. She whirled around on him.

“Colton is one of the best, if not the best, quarterbacks in the NFL right now. Potentially ever. He’s playing incredibly well compared to preseason, and he’s on par with his performance from last year. He has professionals setting a schedule and training program for him, including myself. All he needs is your support. We can handle the rest.”

Mr. Beaumont’s face reddened, and she could see the impressed look from Landon and the open-mouthed shock from Maya over his shoulder.

She slid her hand into Colton’s, weaving her fingers through his. They’d done so a couple of times for cameras over the past two months, but there was something different this time. This was for him, for them. This was to ground herself and to show her support for him.

Finally, his father spoke angrily, face completely red. “How dare you speak to me like that when I invited you into my home. You are a rude little—didn’t your mother teach you any manners? I was nice to you as a courtesy, but you’re ruining my son’s game. The last thing he needs is an analyst as a girlfriend when he’s playing the worst season of his life since joining the team.”

At the mention of her mother, Lucia reeled back. Colton squeezed her hand, pulling her closer to him.

“Don’t talk to her like that. She’s the reason I’m playing as well as I am right now.” He focused his eyes past his father, nodding at his siblings. “Goodnight.”

Lucia followed him down the stairs, her hand still firmly tucked in his. She wasn’t sure if he was upset at her for overstepping, but he didn’t speak until they reached the sidewalk.

“Every damn year! He does this every fucking year. We can’t just respect my mother for everything she did for us, for him. Everything she sacrificed and all that she dealt with near the end. Instead, we have to talk about the only thing he knows how to talk about. She’s dead, and he acts like she never fucking existed.”

When they reached his car, down the street and out of sight of his father’s house, he leaned against it, his back against the driver-side door. “And you…”

“Colton, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said all of those things, it wasn’t my place.”

“Stop it. You were—god, you were…” He shook his head, running his hand through his hair. “You were fucking amazing. Phenomenal. I have never seen anybody take him on like that, and to do that for me?” His Adam”s apple bobbed as if he were holding back a slew of emotions.

She placed a hand on his cheek to center him. Softly, she whispered, “You are worth so much more than a trophy or Super Bowl ring. There is far more substance to you than your father gives you credit for. More than even you give yourself credit for.”

His eyes closed, and when they opened, the emotions swirling in them tugged at every part of her. She couldn’t stop herself. She leaned forward and kissed him, softer than in her office. Soft and sweet. And he kissed her back just as softly, his arms wrapping around her.

What could’ve been seconds or minutes later, it became something needier, hungrier, hotter. Suddenly, the front of her dress was up around her waist, and she was about to beg him to take her right there on his father’s dimly lit street. She pulled away, just barely, just enough to reach for the door to his backseat, but he caught her wrist, his jaw setting tightly, eyes closing.

“What?” she breathed out. She hated how whiny she sounded, but the sight of him in this button-down was doing unspeakable things to her.

Somberly, quietly, he said, “Luc, I have to take you home. You deserve to be worshiped, not taken roughly and clumsily in the back of my car.” Her heart flip-flopped, and her stomach erupted with butterflies banging around all over her insides.

She knew it was a bad idea. Knew what Isa would tell her if she asked. But he’d been through so much, and the need to comfort him was overwhelming. She trusted her ability to have sex without letting feelings get in the way. If she thought of it as simply a perk of the relationship, there was really nothing wrong with it, right?

“Then take me to yours and worship me.” His eyes looked back and forth between hers as if he couldn’t believe he’d heard her correctly. She stared right back, confident in her decision.

And then they were in his car, racing back to his house.

They’d barely made it inside before they were on each other, Colton’s right hand buried in her hair and his left holding her chin. He pulled away, hoisting her up so her legs wrapped around him, her heels digging into his ass. His thumb glided across her bottom lip.

“I used to think my favorite thing about your mouth was the smartass shit that it spouted when I pissed you off. Then I learned what it’s like to kiss you.” His eyes flicked up from her lips to her eyes. “Now, I’m thinking it’s gonna be the way it makes me feel when I’m fucking it.”

Her breath hitched, warmth flooding her entire body from her head to her toes, but most especially between her legs. Everything about this was better than in her office, better than she’d ever imagined. She was so shocked that she hadn’t realized he’d already walked them into his bedroom. She didn’t even have time to take in the fact that she was in Colton Beaumont’s bedroom as he sat at the edge of his bed, her legs on either side of him and his mouth back on hers.

Her eyes stayed closed as she fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. She groaned as she struggled with one, and he chuckled deeply, helping her. When his bare chest was exposed to her, she stuck her hands under the material of the crisp shirt and pushed it off his shoulders.

They were godly. She had never seen such beautiful shoulders, and she was quickly beginning to wonder if she liked them more than his forearms she’d often caught herself nearly drooling over. His arms came out of the shirt slowly, and there he sat, naked from the waist up and absolutely glorious.

He kissed her neck, her head falling back as she pulled at the buckle of his belt. Suddenly, he flipped her around so that she was on her back, Colton standing above her. She opened her mouth to complain, but his lips were back on hers, his kiss biting as a finger trailed over the inside of her thigh, coming to rest at her panties.

His fingers stilled as his lips rested below her ear, nipping and sucking. He rubbed the lace of her panties as he asked, “Can I?”

Fuck, yes. “Please,” she moaned, already needing the pressure of his fingers inside her. Her back arched as he brushed against her clit before his finger slipped under the lace.

“Fuck,” he choked out. “You always this wet for me?”

A moan was her only answer as his finger found her seam, rubbing what he found up to her clit and gently circling it. Lucia’s whole body hummed to life, and her nails dug into his scalp as he bit softly down her throat. His nose traced down the middle of her body as he pressed light kisses through her dress.

“This,” he mumbled gruffly, “needs to go.” He slipped the straps of her dress over her shoulders and down her arms, kissing each inch of newly exposed skin until his breath warmed her bare breasts. His jaw tensed as he drank her in, and then he pulled the entire thing off, leaving her in only her panties and heels. Colton unbuckled the straps of her shoes, pulling them from her feet slowly and lightly brushing his fingertips up her legs in a way that had her practically shaking for him.

He moved up to kiss the hollow of her throat, then her chest, and then he was licking her left nipple, sucking it into his mouth as his hand played with the other. She gasped so loudly at the sensation that he chuckled.

Lucia had never been a fan of nipple play before, but now she knew it was because Max had been doing it all wrong. She wanted Colton to keep biting and twisting them as she writhed below him, wanted him to move lower and do the same to her clit.

“Please, Colton.” Her words were more like a moan as his fingers dropped below her waist to play with her again.

“What do you want me to do to you, Moretti?” He kissed her stomach slowly, going lower and lower as he teased her entrance with his finger. Need filled her body, taut and painful.

“Please. I need you.”

A moment later she looked down, and there he was, on his knees before her. He grinned. “I told you if you wanted me on my knees, all you had to do was ask.”

Pulling aside her panties, he licked her clit once, twice, a third time, until she was pushing herself up into his face. He used his left forearm to press her body against the bed, his right middle finger circling her clit as his tongue dipped inside her.

She was vibrating, waves of pleasure taking over her body. She willed herself to slow down, to wait until Colton was inside of her to let go, but she was careening toward the edge, and she wasn’t sure anything could stop her. He pushed his finger inside of her, and the size of it alone was enough for her whole world to shake. He curled it, hitting her in just the right place, and that was all it took for her to finish, dancing stars obscuring her vision.

When she could feel her body again, she found his face still buried in her. She tugged at his hair so he looked up at her, and when he saw the look on her face, he licked his way up her body, placing a kiss to her mouth, his hips tight against hers. She couldn’t stop the moan that left her as he drove his hips into hers, her body coming alive again as it remembered what she’d almost had in her office.

She was frantic as she pulled at his pants, pouting when he moved away to take them off slowly. He gave her that grin that was branded in her mind.

“So impatient.” He tsked, unbuckling his pants.

She would show him impatience. After pulling the lace off her body in one fluid motion, she stuck a finger in her mouth and used it to play with her clit while she watched him, and then the grin was gone, replaced with something much, much darker.

“Lucia…”

She closed her eyes and moaned, willing him to give her what she wanted. He was on her in an instant, his bare cock resting at her entrance. Her eyes opened wide, meeting his.

“I thought you wanted to fuck my mouth?” The words sounded absolutely filthy coming out of her, and she loved it, though she knew just by the feel of it against her leg that she’d never be able to take the whole thing in her mouth.

“Fuck that, I can’t go another second without being inside of you.” He rubbed his erection against her clit. “What do you want, Moretti? You want me inside of you as badly as I do?”

She reached down, smiling wide as he shuddered at her touch. “Fuck me like you mean it.”